Illeanarama

As discussed in a recent New York Times article, Hollywood is still puzzling out the YouTube problem. In the meantime, the less fortunate (read d-list), are taking full advantage of it. Take Illeanarama “Supermarket of the Stars,”an independent project starring Illeana Douglass, which has found a second—make that third—life on it.

Originally made as a short film in 2004 by indie producers Angelika Films, Illeanarama was then made into a pilot for the Oxygen Network the following year. When the network passed, producers chopped the film, pilot and outakes down into 5 segments (of roughly 5 minutes each) and rolled it out as a YouTube series.

The premise has Illeana working in a supermarket in BelAir. “We are trying to deal with the issue of what happens to a celebrity or actors when they are no longer in the lime light,” says Tom Bannister of Angelika. Fittingly, it features cameos from actors you may not have seen in awhile: Ed Begley, Justine Bateman, Jeff Goldblum, and Jerry Mathers (aka The Beaver).

Since the first episode aired in December, feedback on Youtube has been overwhelmingly positive. One commenter said, “If this show doesn’t get picked up I’m going to cut my own arm off in shame.” But that raised the question by others whether the show could survive off YouTube. “If it was on real television it wouldn’t be funny… But on youtube it’s my favorite,” said one. Others agree that it wouldn’t work off the third screen.

The fifth episode "aired" today and an “extras” episode is coming next week (featuring Daryll Hannah and Sarah Silverman). While that may be all that’s in the can for now, it may not be the last of Illeanarama. “This is really a passion project for illeana,” says Bannister, “She believes in the story and we hope to shoot more episodes at some point.” In fact he says, “We are really hoping to connect the project with a brand," citing interest from Kmart, Safeway, and Jeep.

In the meantime, Angelika is developing some new web-series. They currently have one in the works with Laguna Beach showrunner Craig Borders.

Illeanarama | Episode 5